Book Review: Twenty Wishes

At first I wasn't sure if this was going to be a women’s knitting circle with a dash of First Wives Club but without the brashness and greed, or whether to expect a female version of The Bucket List. 

This beautifully written book, which will appeal to a wide age range, has depth and a heart-warming story which makes you laugh and cry in equal measure, whilst giving food for thought.  I read the book in two evenings and had to put it down on the first evening after realising it was 2.00 am!

The widows are Anne Marie (38); owner of the book shop who has organised a book group through which she meets, Elise Beaumont (mid 60’s - retired librarian), Lillie Higgins (60s) and her daughter Barbie Foster (40), plus Colette Blake who remarried about a year ago. 

The story takes you briefly through their marriages into widowhood and how they find themselves in their current situation.  More importantly, it shows how they lift themselves out of their grief, helping each other and the people whose lives become intertwined with their own, through the list they devise of Twenty Wishes which are essentially small achievements with big impact.

Mostly the story brings a sense of self-help, confidence, empowerment and control back into the lives of these ladies through their growing friendship.  It is an ‘empowerment’ without being superficial or unkind to those around them.  The heroines help and encourage their friends and the people whom they come into contact with to take a chance on life and happiness, something which may have eluded them through suppressed desires and compromises whilst they were married. 

In doing so they rediscover their own hopes and dreams which had been tucked away as they were absorbed in a relationship which took them from the journey they had once hoped to complete.

As the story unfolds the happiness you feel for the characters as their lives are enhanced and enriched through their list and each other is almost palpable.  Undoutbedly a feel-good book.

Review by L.C.

Read the 50connect interview with author Debbie Macomber.

You can buy Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber from all good bookshops priced £6.99. Alternatively you can purchase it from Amazon for £4.89.

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